Brian Reardon of Monster Music keeps a steady stream of students coming through his lesson program during the summer months. His secret? A spring promotion that couples a discount on summer music lessons with a free acoustic guitar. The promotion also keeps his teachers busy during the slow time and has been a major source of students year-round.
The back-to-school season is your single biggest make-or-break opportunity with music lessons. What you do to prepare during this period will ultimately affect your store’s lesson program for the entire year. Are you ready? At Summer NAMM 2013, music lessons guru Pete Gamber shared an easy plan for building your lesson program during the busy time.
When Beacock Music first opened in 1976, its lesson program operated traditionally and with fewer systems, explains company co-owner Gayle Beacock. At its peak, the program had around 400 students. That changed in 2004 when Beacock Music redesigned the program. These days, it has a private-lesson count at around 1,200 students per week. Gayle Beacock shows how it got there.
Music lessons guru Pete Gamber and Hal Leonard's Dave Cywinski teamed up at the NAMM Show to illustrate the power of marrying music lessons with sales. They shared valuable retail and music publisher insights that got retailers thinking about the easy link between lessons and print music sales.
Middle C Music’s Myrna Sislen knows a thing or two about making her store the local mecca for students of all ages. During this session at The NAMM Show, she shared her experiences with adult music lesson students—and her first-time foray into Groupon, the deal-of-the-day website that features discounted gift certificates.
Listen to Donna Hall’s creative solution when one of her star teachers contemplates leaving to teach at another music school.
In this clip, Dom Famularo is asked an interesting question by an audience member in the Idea Center: What happens when your students start to play better than your teachers? He shares his perspective on the idea that sometimes you can't just hire better teachers—you have to make them.
In addition to increasing foot traffic in your store, print music sales and consumables sales, Pete Gamber describes some of the many additional benefits to having music lessons in your store.
Finding qualified teachers is a major challenge that many stores face.  Pete Gamber reveals some of the resources he uses to find experienced teachers. 
After you gather the basic elements for your store’s lesson program such as an engaging teaching staff, practical lesson rooms and a level of student interest, you need to turn your attention to execution. A well-thought-out plan has vision, creativity and the ability to maintain that student interest.

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